Pressure hand loader for shot shells



Oct. 15, 1957 E. A. LANGE PRESSURE HAND LOADER FOR SHOT SHELLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 27, 1956 INVENTOR.

ELME E A; LANGE ATTORNEYS Oct. 15, 1957 E. A. LANGE 2,809,550

I PRESSURE HAND LOADER FOR SHOT SHELLS Filed Jan. 27, 1956 I 2 sheets-sheet 2 34 INVENTOR.

55 5 zuvuzz A. LANGE'. 52 BY AT TOENEYS United States 7 2,809,550 r PRESSUREHAND-LOADER FoR sHoT- SHELLS 7 Elmer A. Lange, Philadelphia, Pa. A licationnnuar zv, .1956,1S.erial l\l|1."56 1 ,-71"I 3 Claims. c1; sir-'23 This inventionirelates-to devices iorloadingsiartridges, and more particularly to an improveddevicerfor packing powder intashotgunshell.

A main object; of the invention, is ,to: provideza novel and improved devicefor loading a. shotgun shell,; said device being simpler-in ,constructiornbeing easy 'tozoperate, .and providing means to indicate accurately'rthe pressure applied tothepowder compressed iha zshotgun 1 Furtherohjects advanta'geszofthe invention will i become apparentsfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a-perspectivevievrofan' improved= device constructed" in accordance with the present? invention, showing; a shotgun" shel'hpositi'onedtherein.

F'gure '2is a:plan view'of the assembly ofFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a vertical cross sectional detail view taken on the line 55 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, the improved shotgun shell loading device is designated generally at 11 and comprises a hollow base 12 formed with a peripheral flange 13, said flange being formed on opposite sides of the base with respective apertures 14, 14, whereby the base may be fastened to a suitable supporting surface by fasteners engaged through said apertures 14, 14.

Base 12 is formed with an upstanding cylindrical collar portion 15 in which is secured a vertical tube 16, thereby defining a receptacle adapted to vertically receive a shot- .gun shell 17 to be loaded, as shown in Figure 3.

The upstanding cylindrical member 15 is formed with the enlarged inside diameter portion 18 adjacent its upper end to receive the reduced lower end portion 19 of the cylindrical sleeve 16, the lower end portion 19 being secured in the enlarged bore portion 18 of member 15 only by friction, and being readily removable whenever desired.

As is clearly shown in Figure 3, the inside diameter of the bore 20 of the sleeve member 16 is smaller than the inside diameter of the main bore portion 21 of the upstanding cylindrical member 15, thus defining a chamber large enough to receive the enlarged bottom flange 23 of a conventional shotgun shell 17.

Bore 21 is provided with the bottom wall 24 which is formed with a central aperture 25. Designated at 26 is a lever member which is pivoted in the base 12 at 27 and which has pivotally connected thereto a vertical 2,809,556 Patented (Jet. 15, 1957 plunger element: 28: which. extends slidably' through the central aperture 25 of wall24 and which istherefore' engageable with the bottom of a cartridge 17 contained in the receptacle defined by members 1 -5 and 16,

The plunger member 28 is formed atits bottom end with anotch' 29a which receives: the lever26 at an intermediate portion of said lever, preferably relatively close to the pivotal connection 27 ofthe lever, as shown in Figure 3, the plunger 28 being-pivotal'ly connected'tothe lever 26vby a transverse pin 29 passing through the legs 30,. 3.0: defined on opposite sides of notch 29a and through the lever 26 received in the notch.

At its free end, the lever 26 is: formed with the transversely extending arm 31 which projects laterally on or posite sidesof the lever. Secured to the bottom of the base/beneath. the free, end: of the-lever and the transversely extending arm 31" is a plate member 32, said plate member having aportion thereof received in a recess. 33 formedin'th'e bottom of the-base 12'and secured therein by suitable fastening screws 34.- Respective coiled springs '35, .35 are disposed betweenthe plate member-'32 and the laterally projecting portions ofarm 31, as-shdwn in' Figure. 3,.th'er ends of the springs being secured in: any suitable manner to retain: the springs in the positions shown in FiguresS and 5, whereby the free end' portion of the lever 326. is biased upwardly.

Vertically secured to the end'of" base 12 adjacent to -the:free endport'ion oflever 26 and substantially perpendicular thereto isaplate member 35 inscribed on its topbmargin with an arcuate force scale36, as is clearly shown inLFigu-re 1. Theend of base 12 is formed adjacent and parallel tothe plate member'35 with a bearing lug 37 in which i-s 'rotatably mounted a shaft 38 which extends 'through the vertical piate' Y 35" and which has secured :on its inner end a rack gear 39; seeure'd to the shaft 38 between the lug 37'and tl-ieplate35 is the upwardly extending pointer 40 which 'is movable al onggtlie -scalei36 responsive to rotation of shaft 38. V r

I The-free end portionof lever 26- is formed with" a de' pending rack bar 41 which meshes with the rack gear 39 and which rotates the gear responsive to the downward movement of the lever 26. The coiled springs 35 bias the lever upwardly, as above explained, and therefore bias the pointer 40 to the zero position on scale 36.

In using the device, the upper sleeve element 16 is first removed and the shell 17 is placed in the member 15 with its bottom end engaging thetop end of the plunger 28. The upper sleeve 16 is then secured on the member 15 in the position thereof shown in Figure 3, after which the powder 44 is placed in the shell and the wad 45 is inserted in the shell over the powder 44. Downward pressure is then applied to the wad 45 by a suitable ramrod 46, the amount of ramming force being indicated by the movement of the pointer 40 along the scale 36. When the specified or rated ramming force has been applied to the rod 45 by the ramrod 46, the ramming action is discontinued, leaving the powder 44 under a specified optimum compression. This enables a person loading a shotgun shell, such as the shell 17, to accurately compress the powder 44 to a desired optimum value of pressure during the operation of loading the shell. 7 Thus, the shell may be loaded by hand and at the same time, optimum ballistic results will be obtained, since it is possible for the user of the device to obtain the correct loading pressure on the powder 44 in the shell. 7

After the shell has been loaded with the powder 44 and the powder has been compressed to the correct pressure, by the procedure above described, the ball may be placed in the shell and the shell may be closed at its top end in any suitable manner, well' known to those skilled in the art.

While a specific embodiment of an improved hand loading device for loading a shotgun shell has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art.. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device for loading a shotgun shell of the type having an enlarged bottom flange, a base, 'a vertical receptacle on said base formed to vertically receive a shell to be loaded and having a main bore portion of a diameter to slidably receive said enlarged bottom flange, a supporting sleeve engaged in said main bore portion and having a bore adapted to closely engage a shell disposed in said base, a depressible vertical plunger element slidably mounted in said base and projecting into the bottom of said receptacle, a lever pivoted in said base, means pivotally connecting said lever to said plunger element, spring means biasing the lever upwardly, a scale mounted on said base, a pointer pivoted to said base for rotation parallel to said scale, and means drivingly coupling said lever to said pointer, whereby downward force on said plunger element Will be transmitted to said lever and will rotate said pointer relative to said scale.

2. In a device for loading a shotgun shell of the type having an enlarged bottom flange, a base, a vertical receptacle on said base formed to vertically receive a shell to be loaded and having a main bore portion of a diameter to slidably receive said enlarged bottom flange, a supporting sleeve engageable in said main bore portion and having a bore adapted to closely engage a shell disposed in said base, the upper portion of said receptacle being recessed around the top of said main bore portion and said supporting sleeve having a depending element fitting the recessed top of the main bore portion, a depressible vertical plunger element slidably mounted in said base and projecting into the bottom of said receptacle, a lever pivoted in said base, means pivotally connecting an intermediate portion of said lever to said plunger element, spring means biasing the lever upwardly, a vertical upstanding plate element secured to said base adjacent the free end of said lever, an arcuate force scale on said plate element, a pointer pivoted to said base for rotation parallel to said plate element and along said scale, and means drivingly coupling the free end portion of said lever to said pointer, whereby downward force on said plunger element will be transmitted to said lever and will rotate said pointer relative to said scale.

3. In a device for loading a shotgun shell of the type having an enlarged bottom flange, a base, a vertical receptacle on said base formed to vertically receive a shell to be loaded and having a main bore dimensioned to slidably receive the enlarged bottom flange of the shell, said main bore being enlarged at its top portion to define an annular recess, a supporting sleeve dimensioned to closely engage the main body of the shell and having an outside diameter larger than the diameter of said annular recess, and a depending reduced portion on said sleeve fitting said annular recess, whereby to interlock said sleeve with said vertical receptacle, a depressible vertical plunger element slidably mounted in said base and projecting into the bottom of said receptacle, a lever pivoted in said base, means pivotally connecting an intermediate portion of saicl lever to said plunger element, spring means biasing the lever upwardly, a vertical upstanding plate element secured to said base adjacent the free end of said lever, an arcuate force scale on said plate element, a pointer pivoted to said base for rotation parallel to said plate element and along said scale, a depending rack bar secured to the free end portion of said lever, and a rack gear connected to said pointer and meshing with said rack bar, whereby downward force on said plunger element will be transmitted to said lever and will rotate said pointer relative to said scale.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 403,692 Nolan May 21, 1889 648,816 Van Patten May 1, 1900 1,436,344 Hickey Nov. 21, 1922 1,449,254 Zucker Mar. 20, 1923 

